Will the pandemic speed the shift to driverless cars?
It’s every kid’s dream of future transportation — George Jetson and his family speeding through the skies in a flying car. ( And it folded up — no need for a parking space!)
But the future of transportation is actually a bit more down to Earth.
Even before the coronavirus hit, many saw autonomous vehicles as the future. And the driver- less car is perfect for post- pandemic life: You’ll be alone in a vehicle — and able to work and take ZOOM meetings during the commute. But is it a pipedream?
Sam Schwartz, a former New York City traffic commissioner and a leading transportation engineer, said the autonomous vehicle industry may see an opportunity to attract investors in the coronavirus aftermath — and may shift public perception of the developing technology.
“The industry is trying to revive itself after a 2019 in which leaders of the industry said, ‘ We’re years away from true autonomous vehicles,’” said Schwartz — who is known for popularizing the term “gridlock.”
Fear of the technology grew in 2018 after an Uber self- driving car struck and killed a woman in Arizona. But some are starting to see the benefit of such vehicles, such as safely delivering food and medicine, while providing social- distancing- approved transportation.
Schwartz said autonomous vehicles won’t become ubiquitous anytime soon, but he sees opportunities for the technology to be used right now.
“Technology is good enough today that if you have well assigned route with few pedestrians or bicycle riders or much cross traffic, you can cover short distances without a driver,” he said.
Or maybe the transportation solution will be more low- tech, said Harriet Tregoning, director of NUMO, the New Urban Mobility alliance, hosted by WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.
“We might see a growth of cities and employers subsidizing things like shared bikes and scooters, as they do public transit now,” said Tregoning, who served in the Obama administration.
Biking is seen as a solo option that doesn’t put you as close to people as, say, walking does. “A lot of people are biking who never felt comfortable doing it” previously because of safety concerns due to heavy car traffic, she said.
This could be an opportunity for change — as cities across the world create temporary bikeways. Oakland, Calif., for instance, has transformed 74 miles of roadway into bike- friendly space, Tregoning said.
While most changes are temporary, they could gain favor and become acceptable and permanent. It wouldn’t be the first time a crisis created an opportunity to look at the status quo and consider alternatives, she said.
“Who’s to say how long ‘ temporary’ will last?” Tregoning said.
But what about a jetpack? Leave the flying to Iron Man.